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Thunder Ranch Front Sight

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.270 WIN
The fiber optic sight on my Thunder Ranch is hard to see.
The barrel is flared in front of the sight which in effect obscures the lower part of it.
Something like a TRUEGLO FAT-BEAD might help.
My question is whether the sight is threaded or pressed in.
Thanks.
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I'm hoping it's threaded. It's my understanding Mossberg uses a 5-40 thread.
I assume some sort of thread locker is used to keep it in place. Would a guy heat the barrel under the sight with a soldering iron or something to ease removing the sight?
 
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I would try to remove it with no heat first. That front sight should be pretty easy to unthread with a pair of pliers wrapped in black tape so you don't mar up the finish if you ever wanted to use it again or sell it. If they used Loctite, I would expect that it's the blue Loctite instead of the red which would require some heat. And if so, I would use a soldering iron on the inside of the barrel rather than torching the outside.

The thing on the front is supposed to be some kind of stand off in case you were blowing doors so the muzzle of the gun didn't actually touch anything to give the shot time to exit the barrel so it doesn't damage it.

If I were betting a meprolight night sight would probably clear the end of the gun. But I don't know whether it would make the gun shoot low or not. That's a possibility any time you install a taller sight.

Have you shot the gun yet?
 
I tried a HIVIZ snap on sight to see if a taller bead would screw up the sight picture, it didn't. Problem was, as expected, it is easily knocked out of whack.
Don't bother, especially if you are going to use the gun for some serious purpose.
 
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Belated update. I went with an XS Sights Big Dot Tritium.
It works well. I glued it on with JB Weld and used a toothpick to clean up all visible epoxy that had squeezed out of the join, no gray seam that shows on some installations.

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About JB weld.. can it keep something on the barrel and make it stay there.. heat / blows / bumps ?
 
I'm sure that JB weld will help hold it on.

I think the factory recommends brownells acraglass.
 
So.. if you dont have any sight.. clean barrel.. and JB weld something as a temporary solution to the barrel.. it will stay there ?
 
Standard JB Weld was reccomend, the faster setting version is not quite as strong.
The OE sight unscrewed easily and the new sight came with a bead to locate it in place.
JB Weld is an epoxy product and the mating surfaces have to be clean and oil free.
Removing the sight will require heat and a colorful vocabulary.
 
I tried to attach a similar sight with JB Weld. It lasted 2 shots.

I never did get it to stay on

To do it again i would silver solder it in place.

Edit: I just recalled that my gun had been drilled for choke tubes leaving little material for the bead threads that contributed to my issue. Sorry for any confusion.
 
OP,
That’s a great looking Mossy. If I didn’t already own 4 Mossy pump shotguns I would probably purchase this model. Love the camo furniture.

Question for you is, what exactly was wrong with the fiber optic factory sight? I get that the breaching device may obscure part of the target but it should not get in the way of your sight picture. You should be able to put the sight on your target unless you’re trying to hit a fly on the wall.
 
I did not like the sight picture with the breaching device in the way. The sight was not readily apparent, you had to look for it as it did not have a distinctive silhouette-outline on the horizon of the muzzle.
The gun was bought for;
1) defense in brown bear country
2) home defense
No time to look for a hidden sight.
 
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If you have a JB Welded sight falling off I suspect the prep work was lacking. Possibly the two parts weren't mixed thoroughly. Could be the room wasn't warm enough and the epoxy not given enough time (days) to completely kick..
Epoxy is a great gap filling adhesive but it HAS to have a clean, oil free and dry surface.
I'm not an expert but I have built a few boats with epoxy.
 
I think Mike had mentioned that his gun had screw in chokes. Which makes the front bead have basically 1 or 2 threads trying to hold the bead/sight in place.

Having a bead in an area that had standard thickness probably would've worked better.
 
Wouldn't the JB weld/acraglass also go between the front sight bead and the sight? The bead is somewhat rounded shape, which would be an anchor point.
 
The bead sight only locates the XS Big Dot sight, the acraglass, JB Weld or whatever holds the Big Dot in place.

The sight is positioned and held on primarily by the bead.

Which is fine assuming the bead is securely held in place. If your bead is compromised. JB Weld is insufficient to hold/locate it.

As long as you have not drilled your barrel for choke tubes and your bead is not otherwise compromised you will be fine with JB Weld.

It the bead is not secure in the barrel, other methods if attachment/location must be used.

I realized after posting my comment that my situation was a little different due modifications I made to my barrel, I should have just deleted it to avoid confusion rather than editing it.
 
The small bead has little strength and in the case of the Big Dot sight it is used to accurately locate the work, that's it.
The epoxy has plenty of strength for this application. The work has to be clean and any oil trapped in the joint will defeat the bond. I imagine a parkerized or brushed barrel could require a more thorough degreasing.
 
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